Day 23 Without Facebook

I guess I could blog about the flaws of the American medical system. Or complain that I feel far worse the day after leaving the hospital. Or that I got a literal bandaid to deal with a life threatening problem because my life wasn’t being threatened at the exact moment I was in the emergency room. Or I can write about something more ‘up’. How about Breaking Bad last night? I’m late to the Breaking Bad party. I watched the entire series a few months ago, along with my other late series Walking Dead. Love both shows, but Walking Dead is good, but not nearly as good as they hype. Breaking Bad however doesn’t have enough hype to cover how awesome it is.

Television is where the most cinematic adult dramas have moved to. Theatrical movie releases seem to be relegated to giant event movies or high concept or comic book adaptations, or worst of all, animated movies for kids. TV series like Boardwalk Empire and Dexter would never make it at the box office, but on the small screen (being a relative term), shows for people over 30 thrive.

I think the changes in cinematography for TV along with larger, very cinematic widescreen TV’s themselves all coalesce into a new era. Movies at the theater did so well for so long because they were ‘larger than life’, but now we can get close ups of an actor larger than they are in the real world, in high definition detail and with a scale and size that make for a more cinematic experience.

Combine that with my oft told length, meaning that we as an audience commit to a much larger time commitment to characters in a series, and the entire experience of TV has a distinct advantage over a movie theater today. Take into account the mass consumption of video-on-demand or DVD/Blu Ray where an entire season or series can be devoured continuously, and we have an entirely new way to experience a show.

If I didn’t feel so nauseous from the medication, lack of sleep from the pain, or weakened by the blood loss, I’d go on more, but I need to take a nap before going to work, then on to teaching two classes…